The present invention relates to a container for a gramophone record or video disc, especially for a so-called compact disc.
A container for standard magnetic tape cassettes (compact cassettes) is known from published German Patent Specification No. 2 248 408. The container comprises a housing in which a holder for a magnetic tape cassette is slideably guided between an inner storage position and an outer removal position into which the holder is biassed by a spring assembly. In addition, there is provided a locking arrangement which holds the holder in its storage position in the housing against the spring bias and which may be released manually. The housing has a front wall which, in the storage position, covers the housing opening. In this known container, the holder is cut away at its sides so that the magnetic tape cassette may be gripped laterally at its edges and lifted out over the front wall of the holder.
This known construction is less suitable for compact discs or other disc-shaped recording media, such as gramophone records or video discs. The play-back equipment for such discs are, typically, designed having an insertion slot for the disc such that the user is required to hold the disc with its main surfaces gripped pincer-fashion between two fingers. It is therefore desirable to construct the container for such discs in such a manner that removal and insertion of the disc can be effected analogously, so that an additional manipulation of the disc is no longer necessary.
This ease of use is especially important when the container is installed in motor vehicles and is intended to be operated by the driver during travel. The operation of the container should require only the minimum of the driver's attention and dexterity in order to minimize any risk of an accident.